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Noisebridge China Trip

My contract manufacturer for TV-B-Gone and TripGlasses and Trippy RGB Waves kits (and a few other things) has a plant in Shanghai and a plant in Ji Ning (about half way between Shanghai and Beijing) (both are SEZs -- Special Economic Zones).

Mike Zhao, an American who lives in San Rafael, but born in Shanghai, is the head of the contract manufacturer, called Etonnet. He's also a total geek, and goes to Maker Faire, and has been to Noisebridge. He's going to Shanghai and Ji Ning starting 20-October-2009, and asked me if I'd like to go, and asked if other NB people (and/or others) would like to go check out the manufacturing scene and China. Mike will return on the 27th, but I think it would be cool if the rest of us go to Beijing for a few days and check out a bit of China-ness there, as well as visit with some hacker-types at Beijing university. We will return on 3-November-2009.

To give a little taste of what it might be like:

A few months ago, Bunny, who manufactures Chumby in China, organized a trip to China to show interested people the manufacturing scene (and China). Evil Mad Scientist went along: Evil Mad Scientist Schenzhen trip

The cost will be very reasonable, as these things go, and the bulk of the cost would be the plane tickets to and from China. At the moment, a round trip ticket costs $694 (SFO to Shanghai, and then Beijing to SFO). When I went last time, nice hotel rooms were about $15 per night in the part of Shanghai I stayed in, and the total cost for me besides the plane ticket was about $350.

Note: We will need to limit the trip to the first 5 people other than me and Mike to buy their tickets, since we only have one large van to take us around once we get to China.